Content distribution system

(54) Title: PROGRAM, TERMINAL AND CONTENT DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT DEVICE AND CONTENT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (30) Unionist Priority: 14/02/2007 jp 2007-33597 (73) Holder (s): ntt docomo, inc.

(72) Inventor (s): Dai Kamiya, KEICHI MURAKAMI, YASUSHI ONDA, YUSUKE KUSHIDA (74) Attorney (s): Edmundo Bruner Assessoria S / C Ltda (86) International Request: pct JP2008052413 of 14/02/2008 (87 ) International Publication: W0 2008 / 099870de2i / 08/2008 (57) Abstract: CONTENT DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT program, terminal and device and CONTENT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM. It is a content distribution system, according to the present invention, which comprises a content distribution management device and a communication terminal. The content distribution management device includes a storage unit that stores one or a plurality of addresses, a receiving unit that receives content data addressed to a communication terminal, a determination unit that determines whether the source address of the received content data is an address stored on the storage unit, and a sending unit which, in the event that the unit of determination determines that the source address of the received content data is an address stored in the storage unit, it sends the content data and parameters that specify the format in which the content will be displayed by the communication terminal, to which the content data is addressed. The communication terminal includes a receiving unit that receives parameters and content data from the content distribution management device; and a content display control unit that displays the received content data and controls its display format, according to the parameters received. Selected drawing: Figure 8.

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CONTENT DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, TERMINAL AND DEVICE Ε CONTENT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a technique for providing digital content via a communication network.

PREVIOUS TECHNIQUE

Mobile phones have included browsers capable of interpreting content written in a markup language, such as CHTML (Compact Hypertext Markup Language), and the communication environments in which mobile phone users can obtain and search for different types of information from the Internet in the same way they use personal computers. In opposition to these antecedents, in which such environments are being developed, businesses called content providers have emerged, which store various contents of the mobile phone on a server on the Internet and distribute them. However, among such businesses, there are also many parties in bad faith that provide content for the purpose of improperly charging users, forcing the dissemination of information, and so on against the will of the mobile phone user. JP 2004-178512A can be cited as a document that reveals a scheme to support preventing the inadvertent access of such content from bad faith content providers. According to the content search engine revealed in this document, when an object (icon), such as a pointer or cursor, moves over an element that covers the content obtained from a given URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and displayed , and

2/31 that element is hyperlinked to a different URL, an outline, attributes or similar to the content targeted by the hyperlink are displayed as a pop-up. Adding this scheme to a pre-existing mobile phone allows a user to understand, in advance, whether the hyperlinked content was provided by the content provider in bad faith. JP 2005-32041A, JP 2004-46478A and JP 2000-276471A also reveal similar techniques.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION

However, according to the schemes revealed in the aforementioned documents, when displaying the content present in a hyperlink that leads to a different URL, the mobile phone cannot perform the pop-up display without also acquiring the definition data that define the outline, the attributes, and so on from the hyperlinked content. A problem may arise, therefore, since the communication processing performed by the mobile phone will increase due to the acquisition of the definition data.

Planned in light of the aforementioned background, an objective of the present invention is to provide a scheme that issues a warning in response to an operation about to be performed by a user, without increasing the processing loads of the terminal device.

MEANS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

A content delivery management device, according to a preferred aspect of the present invention, comprises: a storage unit that

3/31 stores or a plurality of addresses; a receiving unit that receives the content data addressed to a communication terminal; a unit of determination that determines whether the source address of the received content data is an address that is stored on the storage unit; and a sending unit which, in the event that the determining unit has determined that the addresses of the source of the received content data is an address that is stored in the storage unit, sends the content data and the parameters that specify the format in that the content must be displayed by the communication terminal, to which the content data is addressed.

This aspect may also include: A unit that receives a request that contains the address of an Internet communication network from the communication terminal; and a unit that transfers the received request to the Internet communication network.

A content distribution management device, according to another preferred aspect of the present invention, comprises: a storage unit that stores one or a plurality of addresses; a receiving unit that receives, from a communication terminal that has the received content data, the address from which the content data is stored; a unit of determination that determines whether the received address is an address stored in the storage unit; and a sending unit which, in the case where the determining unit has determined that the received address is an address stored in the storage unit, sends the

4/31 parameters that specify the format in which the content will be displayed by the communication terminal to which the content data is addressed.

In this respect, the content data can be a code 5 that describes elements that indicate each display object that constitutes the content and feedback information for each display object using a predetermined markup language.

In addition, the parameters can be parameters that indicate an element of a display object for which a predetermined pictogram is processed by overlapping with a pointer, as a result of an input unit of the communication terminal that is operated after the object appear on the display.

In addition, the parameters can be parameters that indicate an element of a display object for which a predetermined pictogram is processed by highlighting as a result of an input unit of the communication terminal that is operated after the object has been displayed in the display.

The element that indicates the display object can express a hyperlink to an address that has received a pre-determined certification.

A communication terminal, according to another preferred aspect of the present invention, comprises: a display, an input unit; a receiving unit that receives the content data that describe the elements that indicate the display objects and their feedback using a predetermined markup language and parameters that indicate a specific element; a first display control unit that displays a display object indicated by an element contained in the display data

5/31 content received on the display, according to the feedback information; and a second display control unit that processes a predetermined pictogram when the display object, among the display objects shown on the display, displayed based on the element indicated by the received parameters is superimposed with a pointer as a result of the unit's operations input.

A communication terminal, according to another preferred aspect of the present invention, comprises: a display, an input unit; a receiving unit that receives the content data that describes the elements that indicate the display objects and the template information for the display objects using a predetermined markup language and parameters that indicate a specific element; a first display control unit that displays a display object indicated by an element of the content data received on the display, according to the template information; and a second display control unit that processes a predetermined pictogram when the display object, among the display objects shown on the display, displayed based on the element indicated by the received parameters is highlighted as a result of operations of the input unit.

A program, according to another preferred aspect of the present invention, causes a computer device that has a display, an input unit and a communication unit to perform: A step of receiving, through the communication unit, the data of content that describe the elements that indicate the display objects and the template information for the display objects using a predetermined markup language and parameters that indicate an element

Specific 6/31; a step of displaying a display object indicated by an element of the content data received on the display, according to the template information; and a processing step of a predetermined pictogram when the display object, among the display objects shown on the display, displayed based on the element indicated by the received parameters is superimposed with a pointer as a result of operations of the input unit.

A program, according to another preferred aspect of the present invention, causes a computer device that has a display, an input unit and a communication unit to execute: a step of receiving, through the communication unit, the content data that describe the elements that indicate the display objects and the template information for the display objects using a predetermined markup language and parameters that indicate a specific element; a step of displaying a display object indicated by an element of the content data received on the display; and a second display control function that processes a predetermined pictogram when the display object, among the display objects shown on the display, displayed based on the element indicated by the received parameters is highlighted as a result of input unit operations.

A content delivery system, according to another preferred aspect of the present invention, comprises: a content delivery management device that includes a storage unit that stores one or a plurality of addresses, a receiving unit that receives data content addressed to a communication terminal, a

7/31 determination that determines whether the address of the source of the received content data is an address stored in the storage unit, and a sending unit which, in the case where the unit of determination determined that the address of the source of the content data received is an address stored on the storage unit, sends the content data and parameters that specify the format in which the content will be displayed by the communication terminal, to which the content data is addressed; and a communication terminal that includes a receiving unit that receives the parameters and content data from the distribution management device, and a content display control unit that displays the received content data and controls the display format of the according to the parameters received.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 is a diagram that illustrates the general configuration of a content distribution system.

Figure 2 is a diagram that illustrates the physical configuration of a communication terminal.

Figure 3 is a diagram that illustrates the logical configuration of a communication terminal.

Figure 4 is a diagram that schematically illustrates the hardware configuration of a content delivery server device.

Figure 5 is a diagram that schematically illustrates the hardware configuration of a communication port device.

Figure 6 is a flow chart that illustrates operations

8/31 carried out according to a first modality.

Figure 7 is a diagram that illustrates, in a conceptual way, a memory space.

Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating the display of a pictogram.

Figure 9 is a flow chart that illustrates operations performed according to a second modality.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10: mobile terminal; 11, 31, 51: control unit; 12: transmission / receiving unit; 13: instruction entry unit; 14: liquid crystal display; 20: mobile packet communication network; 30: content distribution server device; 32, 52: communication interface; 33, 53: hard disk; 40: Internet communication network; 50: communication port server device.

BEST WAY TO PERFORM THE INVENTION (FIRST MODE)

A first embodiment of the present invention will now be described.

First, the main terminology used in the present modality must be defined. Carrier refers to a communication organization that runs a mobile packet communication network. User refers to a party that, after purchasing a mobile terminal, has entered into a contract with the carrier for the use of the mobile packet communication network. Content provider refers to a party that provides a service for the distribution of various types of content to users from their own server device located on a communication network

9/31 from the Internet. There are, among other content providers, certified content providers that provide a carrier-certified service regarding not providing content that causes improper loss to users, and non-certified content providers that provide a service without receiving such certification.

Figure 1 is a diagram that illustrates the general configuration of a content distribution system, according to the present modality. As illustrated in the diagram, this system is configured from a mobile packet communication network 20, with which a mobile terminal 10 is connected, an Internet communication network 40, with which a content delivery server device. 30 is connected, and a communication port server device 50, which connects the two communication networks.

The mobile packet communication network 20 is a collection of nodes that transfers data through procedures compatible with the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) / IP (Internet Protocol) protocol, a protocol equivalent to HTTP (Data Transfer Protocol) Hypertext) deployed under TCP / IP or similar, and includes base stations, packet processing modules and so on. Meanwhile, the Internet 40 communication network is a collection of nodes that transfer data using TCP / IP-compliant, HTTP procedures deployed under TCP / IP, SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) or similar and include server devices , routers, and so on.

The communication port server device 50 is a computer, managed by a carrier, which is provided in a communication port switching center that connects the mobile packet communication network 20 and the communication network 40 to each other;

10/31 the data that is sent from a node on one of the communication networks to a node on another communication network is subjected to protocol conversion on the gateway device 50 and is then transferred to the node on the other communication network. The server device of the communication port 50 also performs the processing characteristic of the present modality at the time of transferring data that have been converted. This processing will be described in detail below.

Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating the physical configuration of a mobile terminal 10. The mobile terminal 10 includes a control unit 11, a transmit / receive unit 12, an instruction input unit 13, and a liquid crystal display. 14.

The transmit / receive unit 12 performs wireless communication with a base station in the communication network of the mobile packet 20 under control of control 11.

The instruction input unit 13 consists of several buttons, such as pushbuttons (PBs) and cursor keys; when a user performs the input operations, the instruction input unit 13 provides operational signals corresponding to those input operations to the control unit 11.0 liquid crystal display 14 is configured from a display device, such as a crystal panel display various information under the control of the control unit 11.

The control unit 11 has a CPU 11, a ROM 16, a RAM 17 and an EEPROM 18.

CPU 15 runs several programs stored on ROM 16, EEPROM 18 and the like using RAM 17, as a

11/31 workspace.

Pre-installed programs are stored in ROM 16. Such pre-installed programs are programs stored in ROM 16 during the production process of the mobile terminal 10 and are, more specifically, a multitasking operating system (hereinafter referred to as multitasking OS, programs Java® platform, native applications, and so on. In order to provide a general explanation of these programs, first, the multitasking OS is an operating system that supports several functions, such as the allocation of virtual memory space and so on, which are necessary to perform the pseudo-parallel execution of multiple tasks through a TSS (Time Sharing System). A Java platform program, at the same time, is a group of programs written according to the CDC (Connected Device Configuration) for the purpose of being executable in the Java operating environment, which will be described later. A native application is a program that performs a basic service of the mobile terminal 10, such as telephony, navigation, sending / receiving e-mail and so on, and includes an e-mail application to accept an e-mail sending / receiving service provided and a navigation application to accept a provided navigation service.

EEPROM 18 has a region for storing Java applications. Java applications are stored in that region. Java applications have Jar files (Java file) that group a program itself, in which a procedure is stipulated to perform the processing within the Java operating environment and used image files, audio files and so on.

12/31 during the execution of that program, as well as ADF (Application Descriptor File) that describes the installation and initialization of the Jar File, several attributes and so on. This Java application is created by a content provider or carrier and stored on a server or similar device located on the Internet 40 communication network and downloaded, as appropriate, from the server device or similar in response to requests from the mobile terminal 10.

Figure 3 is a diagram that illustrates the logical configuration of the various units that can be deployed by the control unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 by executing the various programs on ROM 16, EEPROM 18 and so on. As shown in this diagram, a browser 61, a messenger 62 and a Java 64 operating environment deployed on an OS 63, and in addition, a first storage 65 and a second storage 66 are protected in EEPROM 18. Browser 61 and messenger 62 run through native applications on ROM 16, and facilitate the receipt and analysis of data written in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), sending and receiving e-mail, and so on.

The Java 64 operating environment is run by a Java platform program on ROM 16. The Java 64 operating environment consists of a class library 67, a JVM (Java Virtual Machine) 68, and a JAM (Application Manager Java) 69. Class library 67 is a group of program modules with highly generic specific functions, called classes, consolidated into a single file. JVM 68 is a CDC-optimized JVM, which is a planned configuration for devices

13/31 mobile devices in which a multitasking OS is installed, and analyzes and executes the byte code provided as a Java program. JAM 69 starts the download and installation of Java applications.

The first storage 65 is a region for storing Java applications (Jar files and ADFs) downloaded via the JAM 69 initiative. The second storage 66 is a region for storing data generated during the execution of a Java application, after that execution, where individual storage regions are allocated for each installed Java application. The data in the storage region allocated to a given Java application is writable only while that Java application is running and is configured so that it is not rewritable with another Java application.

Figure 4 is a diagram that schematically illustrates the hardware configuration of the content delivery server device. Each server device 30 is run by a content provider and includes, as shown in the diagram, a control unit 31, a communication interface 32, and a hard drive 33.

The control unit 31 has a CPU 34, a ROM 35, a RAM 36 and so on.

Communication interface 32 exchanges data according to a protocol, such as TCP / IP, HTTP or the like.

Hard disk 33 stores content data 37. Content data 37 is HTML data, written in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), which describes Java applications (Jar files and ADFs) created by content providers, which are the operators of the distribution server device the

14/31 content 30, or that define the code of the details of the display objects, such as text (for example, hyperlinks) or images (for example, software buttons, text boxes, etc.) (hereinafter elements) and the information template (information that indicates the positions on the liquid crystal display 14 or the contents to arrange the display objects).

Figure 5 is a diagram that schematically illustrates the hardware configuration of a gateway 50 server device. Server device 50 is run by managing a carrier and includes, as shown in the diagram, a control unit 51, a communication interface 52, and a hard disk 53.

Like the content delivery server device 30, the control unit 51 includes a CPU 54, a ROM 55 and a RAM 56, and the configuration of the communication interface 52 is also the same as that of the server device 30.

The hard disk 53 stores a pictogram display application 57 and a certified CP database 58.

The pictogram 57 display application is a single Java application (Jar and ADF file) created by carriers in order to initiate download transfers to the mobile terminal 10.

This pictogram 57 display application provides the following two functions for JVM 68 on mobile terminal 10.

The. Parameter extraction function

This is a function to extract, from the header portion of the HTML data received by the browser 61 of the mobile terminal 10, the parameters in order to identify a specific element associated with an anchor tag (called parameters of

15/31 element specification).

B. Pictogram display function

This is the function for processing a pictogram in the vicinity of a pointer that indicates that a linked destination is safe when the position to which the pointer moved overlaps the position in the browser 61 where the text or images processed by the elements indicated by parameters extracted from the header portion are displayed.

The CP certified database 58 is a collection of multiple records, each corresponding to the HTML data provided as content data 37 by a certified content provider 37. A single record contained in that database has two fields, or addresses and parameters. A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that indicates where HTML data is stored is stored in the address field. The element specification parameters are stored in the parameter field.

Every time a content provider that provides HTML data as content data 37 is subjected to a certification exam and is certified by a carrier, a record is added to database 58, and the URL and parameters of element specification are stored in the fields of the added record. A general explanation of the certification process flow will be provided below.

A content provider sends HTML data created using a website building tool, such as Dreamweaver®, to a carrier, along with the URL of its own server, on which that HTML data will be stored and the

16/31 certification application documents will be filled with other necessary items. After receiving the HTML data sent and the certification application documents, the carrier examines whether the details of the HTML data sent satisfy the conditions for certification. Specifically, it is verified that the details of the HTML data itself do not violate the general decorum, if a Java application that maliciously obtains resources from the mobile terminal 10, such as personal information, is stored in a hyperlink written in that data. HTML, such as anchor tag attributes, and so on. After obtaining a verification result that indicates the HTML data as suitable for certification, the carrier adds a new record to the certified CP database 58 of the gateway device 50 and, together with the URL store the HTML data stipulated in the certification application documents at the address of the new record, stores the specific parameters of the element of the element associated with the anchor mark obtained through the verification process in the parameters field of that record. The carrier then notifies the content provider that the content has been certified. After notification, the content provider stores the HTML data in a storage region within its own server, stipulated as a URL in the certification application documents, and starts the distribution service.

Below, the operations carried out in this modality will be described.

Figure 6 is a flow chart that illustrates the operations performed in the present modality. The start of operations shown in this diagram is triggered by instruction input unit 13 of the

17/31 mobile terminal 10, which downloaded the pictogram display application 57 stored on the communication device 50 server device, being operated from the launch of the pictogram display application 57 and a browser application.

As described above, multitasking OS 63 is installed on the mobile terminal 10 and, therefore, pseudo-parallel execution of multiple tasks is possible through TSS. Figure 7 is a diagram that shows, conceptually, a protected memory space in RAM 17 when the pictogram display application 57 and the browser application are started at the same time. As shown in this diagram, a memory space 17a, for loading multitasking OS 63, a memory space 17b, for loading the pictogram display application 57 and a Java platform application that supports its execution, and a space for memory 17c, to load the browser application, are individually protected in RAM 17.

In Figure 6, the control unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 performs a packet registration for the packet processing module of the mobile packet communication network 20 (S100). Packet registration is a registration procedure to conduct packet exchange between the terminal 10 itself and the mobile packet communication network 20. After completing the registration of this package, the mobile terminal 10 is able to transmit / receive various types of data to / from the Internet communication network 40.

Once the packet registration is complete, the control unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 waits for a URL to be launched through the instruction input unit 13. When the URL of the

18/31 contents that a user wants to search for are launched via instruction input unit 13, control unit 11 sends an HTTP request containing a GET request method to the mobile packet communication network 20 using the URL posted as the destination address (SI 10). The sent HTTP request is then transmitted to the server device of the communication port 50 through the mobile packet communication network 20.

The control unit 51 of the communication port server device 50 that received the HTTP request then performs a protocol conversion of the HTTP request and transfers the result to the Internet communication network 40 (S120). The transferred HTTP request is then transmitted to the destination content delivery server device 30 via the Internet communication network 40.

The control unit 31 of the content delivery server device 30 that received the HTTP request then sends an HTTP response, including the HTML data obtained from the hard drive storage region 33 specified by the destination address in that request. HTTP, for Internet communication network 40, with mobile terminal 10, from which the HTTP request originated as the destination (S130). The sent HTTP response is, in sequence, transmitted to the server device of communication port 50 via the Internet communication network 40.

The control unit 51 of the communication port server device 50 that received the HTTP response performs a protocol conversion on the HTTP response and then determines whether the

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Response source URL is stored in the address field of some record in the certified CP database 58 (S140) In other words, in this step, it is determined whether the HTML data contained in the HTTP response is provided by a provider certified content.

After determining, in step 140, that the URL is stored in the certified CP database 58, the control unit 51 incorporates, in the header portion of the HTTP response, the element specification parameters obtained from the field registry parameters whose address field stores the determined URL and then transfers the HTTP response to the mobile packet communication network 20 (S150).

However, after determining, in step 140, that the URL is not stored in the certified CP database 58, the control unit 51 does not incorporate the element specification parameters in the header portion and instead transfers the response HTTP, where the protocol conversion was performed, directly to the mobile packet communication network 20 (S160). The transferred HTTP response is transmitted to the mobile terminal 10 as its destination via the mobile packet communication network 20.

The control unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 that received the HTTP response performs the browser application tasks, thereby displaying, on the liquid crystal display, a screen obtained by interpreting the HTML data contained in that HTTP response, and controls the display state based on the parameters embedded in the HTML data. To be more specific, processing is performed according to the following procedure.

Control unit 11 determines whether the control parameters

20/31 element specification are contained in the header portion of the HTML data and, if the element specification parameters are contained therein, extracts those element specification parameters from the header portion and identifies the element as the parameters extracted indicate.

In addition, a screen on which the text or images that indicate each element written as HTML data is arranged according to their outline is displayed on the liquid crystal display 14. After the screen is displayed on the liquid crystal display 14, when the element specification parameters have been extracted, it is monitored whether the text or images displayed based on the elements indicated by the element specification parameter (display objects) and an icon to select (pointer) overlap; the display of a pictogram is triggered when text or images and the selection icon overlap.

Figure 8 is a diagram that illustrates the display of this pictogram. As described above, the pictogram display application 57 provides the control unit 11 with a parameter extraction function and a pictogram display function. When an HTML response is received, the elements obtained by interpreting the HTML data contained in that response are displayed throughout the display region on the liquid crystal display 14. This depends on the functions of the browser applications.

In addition, in this diagram, among the various elements and the text and images corresponding to these, a select 91 icon was moved to a location that overlaps an image (a button) linked by hyperlink to an A-Bank website and , thus, a pictogram 92 that depicts a padlock that indicates that the website is a

21/31 safe location is displayed around the selection icon. This is because the control unit 11 has, under the effects of the function of extracting the parameter of the application of pictogram 57, extracted the specification parameters of the element that indicates the image element (button) of the A-Bank location from of the header portion of the HTML response in advance and, in addition, the control unit 11 caused, under the effects of the pictogram display function, the pictogram 92 appears in response to the image (button) of the A-Bank location indicated by the element specification parameters that overlap the position to which the selection icon 91 was moved. Confirming the presence / absence of the appearance of this pictogram 92 allows that the user visually understands that the location directed by the hyperlink was not provided by a content provider in bad faith.

According to the present modality, as described so far, when the server device of communication port 50, which works by managing a carrier, performs a protocol conversion into an HTTP response transferred from the communication network of the carrier. Internet 40 for the mobile packet communication network 20 through the device 50 itself, it determines whether the URL of the origin of that HTTP response is stored in a database and, when the URL is stored in a database, it incorporates the element specification parameters in the header portion of the same and then transfers the result back to the mobile packet communication network 20.

Therefore, if the application for displaying pictogram 57 is downloaded from the server device of the communication port 50 for each mobile terminal 10 that may be the destination of the

22/31 HTTP response in which the element specification parameters are incorporated, a pictogram can be processed on the liquid crystal display 14 in response to text or images of the element indicated by the element specification parameters that overlap the position for the which the select icon has been moved. Through this, the mobile terminal 10 can advise a user to be careful about the actions that the user can perform (send information, execute payments and so on by clicking on a hyperlink, on a button or similar) after placing the icon of selection overlaps the display object without performing repeated communication to confirm the reliability of the details processed based on the display object. Advising the user to carry out a careful judgment alone can have an effect of preventing damage caused by a malicious content provider. In addition, carriers do not need to burden providers with rules, such as the requirement for the integration of specific programs into their own content data 37 created by certified content providers with the purpose of guiding users not to carelessly access malicious content .

(SECOND MODE)

A second embodiment of the present invention will now be described.

The definitions of carrier, user and content provider in this modality are the same as in the first modality.

In the first modality, the server device of the communication port 50 that received an HTTP response for the mobile terminal 10 incorporates the specification parameters of the

23/31 element in the header portion of the HTTP response and then transfers the response. However, the server device of the communication port 50, according to the present modality, performs a protocol conversion in the HTTP response destined for the mobile terminal 10 and, in sequence, transfers the response to it, receives a request from the terminal mobile 10 that received those HTTP responses and then transmits the element specification parameters later.

The hardware configurations of the mobile terminal 10, the content delivery server device 30, and the communication port server device 50 are the same as in the first embodiment and, therefore, their descriptions will not be repeated.

Figure 9 is a flow chart that illustrates the operations performed in the present modality. The beginning of the operations shown in this diagram is triggered by the instruction input unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10, which downloaded the pictogram display application 57 stored in the server device of the communication port 50, being operated from the initialization pictogram display application 57 and a browser application.

In Figure 9, the control unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 performs a packet registration for the packet processing module of the mobile packet communication network 20 (S200).

Once the package registration is complete, the control unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 waits for a URL to be launched through the instruction input unit 13. When the URL of the content data that a user wants to search for is launched through the unit instruction input 13, control unit 11 sends

24/31 an HTTP request containing a GET request method for the mobile packet communication network 20 using the posted URL as the destination address (S210). The sent HTTP request is then transmitted to the server device of the communication port 50 through the mobile packet communication network 20.

The control unit 51 of the communication port server device 50 that received the HTTP request then performs a protocol conversion of the HTTP request and transfers the result to the Internet communication network 40 (S220). The transferred HTTP request is then transmitted to the destination content delivery server device 30 via the Internet communication network 40.

The control unit 31 of the content delivery server device 30 that received the HTTP request then sends an HTTP response, including the HTML data obtained from the hard drive storage region 33 specified by the destination address in that request. HTTP, for Internet communication network 40, with mobile terminal 10, from which the HTTP request originated as the destination (S230). The sent HTTP response is, in sequence, transmitted to the server device of communication port 50 via the Internet communication network 40.

The control unit 51 of the communication port server device 50 that received the HTTP request performs a protocol conversion in the HTTP response and transfers the result to the mobile packet communication network 20 (S240). The transferred HTTP response is then transmitted to the mobile terminal 10

25/31 as the destination of the same through the mobile packet communication network 20.

Without the interpretation of the HTML data contained in the HTTP response, the control unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 that received the HTTP response creates a query message, in which the URL of the content delivery server device 30, from from which the response originated, is incorporated, and sends that message to the mobile packet communication network 20 with the server device of the communication port 50 as the destination (S250). The query message is then transmitted to the server device of the communication port 50 via the mobile packet communication network 20.

The control unit 51 of the communication port server device 50 that received the query message determines whether the URL embedded in that message is stored in the address field of some record in the certified CP database 58 (S260).

After determining, in step 260, that the URL is stored in the certified CP database 58, the control unit 51 sends a response message to the mobile packet communication network 20, in which they are incorporated ( S270) the element specification parameters obtained from the record parameter field whose address field stores the determined URL.

After determining, in step 270, that the URL is stored in the certified CP database 58, the control unit 51 sends a response message to the mobile packet communication network 20, in which they are incorporated ( S280)

26/31 parameters for specifying the element obtained from the parameter field of the record whose address field stores the determined URL.

The response message sent is transmitted to the mobile terminal 10 as a destination thereof via the mobile packet communication network 20. The control unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 that received the response message controls the display of a pictogram with the use of those parameters when the element specification parameters are incorporated in the message.

As described so far, a user can be guided to not carelessly access malicious content in the same way as the first modality, even if the communication is divided into two sessions, one for the exchange of HTML data and one for the exchange of the element specification parameters.

(OTHER MODALITIES)

Many variations of the present invention are possible.

In the above modalities, the pictogram 57 display application is stored on the hard drive 53 of the communication port 50 server device and is downloaded from the communication port 50 server device in response to a request from the terminal mobile 10. However, a server device operated under the management of a carrier can be provided on the Internet communication network 40; the pictogram display app 57 can be stored there and downloaded to mobile terminal 10 from that server device.

The configuration can also be such that the application for displaying pictogram 57 is stored in advance in ROM

27/31 of the mobile terminal 10, as a native application instead of a Java application that operates under the Java operating environment.

In the above modalities, when the URL of the origin of an HTTP response that was transferred through the communication device 50 server device itself is stored in the hard disk 53, the communication device server 50 incorporates the specification parameters of the element, for the purpose of identifying a specific element contained in the HTML data of that HTTP response, in the header portion of the same and the response is transferred. The mobile terminal 10 that received the HTTP response then displays a pictogram when the element indicated by the element specification parameters, among all the elements displayed on the liquid crystal display 14 based on the results of the HTML data contained in the response being interpreted, overlaps a selection icon. In other words, in the above embodiments, the communication port server device 50 uses the element specification parameters to specify each element for which the pictograms should be displayed when superimposed on the selection icon.

However, the server device of communication port 50 may incorporate, in the header portion of the HTTP response, only parameters that indicate, in binary format, whether the URL of the HTTP response source is stored on hard drive 53 or, in other words, if that URL was provided by a certified content provider and then transfers the response. In this variation, the mobile terminal 10 that received an HTTP response that contains such parameters identifies the elements linked by hyperlink to other locations (that is, elements for which a

28/31 pictogram must appear) using one of the following two schemes. In the first scheme, the types of marks associated with specific elements that change the display format when the parameters are contained in the header portion are pre-registered in the display application of pictogram 57 and, when the marks of those specific elements are extracted during the In the process of interpreting the HTML data, a pictogram is displayed when the displayed text or images, according to it, overlap the selection icon. In the second scheme, brand types are not registered in advance; a pictogram is displayed for all texts and images displayed according to the marks extracted during the process of interpreting the HTML data when the select icon overlaps them.

In short, if the parameters incorporated in the HTML data by the server device of the communication port 50 are parameters that stipulate the display format of the content on the mobile terminal 10, such parameters need not indicate a specific element.

Although, in the above embodiments, the server device of the communication port 50 incorporates the element specification parameters in the HTTP response that travels through the device 50, the content delivery server device 30 can prepare, on the hard disk 33 , the HTML data in which the element specification parameters, in which the parameters were incorporated as an HTTP response upon receipt of an HTTP request. According to this variation, the same effects, as in the modalities above, can be obtained without making the gateway server device

29/31 communication 50 determine if the source of the HTTP response is the server device of a certified content provider.

Although, in the above embodiments, the communication port 50 server device incorporates the element specification parameters in the header portion of an HTTP response, these parameters can be transferred as part of the actual HTTP response data instead . That is, the way in which the parameters are incorporated is not particularly limited, as long as the element specification parameters can be extracted from the HTTP response by the mobile terminal 10.

In the above modalities, the operations performed at the moment of distribution of an HTTP response that contains HTML data, which are of a type of content data, are described as operations performed by the server device of the communication port; however, the same processing can be performed when distributing Java applications. In other words, it can be determined whether a Java application downloaded in response to a request from mobile terminal 10 is provided by certified content when the application travels through the server device of communication port 50, and, if the application is provided by a certified content provider, the parameters that indicate this fact can be incorporated into the application and it can then be downloaded. In addition, it is not necessary to describe the elements to be displayed as content on the liquid crystal display 14 of the mobile terminal 10 and its template in HTML; another markup language, such as XML (Extensible Markup Language), can be used instead.

Although, in the modalities above, the mobile terminal

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10, or, in other words, a mobile phone capable of accessing the Internet communication network 40 through the mobile packet communication network 20, is provided with the pictogram 57 display application, the same effects can be obtained through the provision of a personal computer capable of accessing the Internet 40 communication network with the same type of application.

Even though, in the above modalities, the content, which is directed by the hyperlink provided by a certified content provider or by a non-certified content provider, is identified based on the presence / absence of the appearance of pictogram 92, this identification can be performed using pictogram 92 based on the possibility of the content URL, which is directed by the hyperlink, to be registered in a user indicator, stored on removable external storage media, such as a UIM (User Identity Module) or similar. In addition, if the content, which is directed by the hyperlink, is payable using the application of a specific payment system (Edy®, Suica® or similar), it can be identified based on pictogram 92.

Although, in the above modalities, pictogram 92, which depicts a padlock, appears in the vicinity of the selection icon 91 when it overlaps the text or images indicated by the element specification parameters, an arbitrary image (advertising) selected by carrier, by the certified content provider or the like may appear instead of the padlock.

The hardware and software configurations of the mobile terminal, the communication port server device and the content delivery server device are not limited

31/31 to those illustrated in Figures 3, 4, 5 and 7. Any structural format can be used as long as it is capable of carrying out the functions of the present invention.

The programs executed by the control unit 11, the 5 control unit 31 or the control unit 51 in the above modes can be supplied in the form in which they are stored on a computer-readable recording medium, such as a magnetic recording medium (tape magnetic, magnetic disk (an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an FD (Flexible Disk)) or similar), an optical recording medium (an optical disk (a CD (Compact Disc), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)) or similar), a magnetic-optical recording medium, a semiconductor memory (flash ROM or similar) or the like. These programs can also be delivered to a mobile terminal, a gateway device, or a content delivery server device over a network, such as the Internet.

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